There are plenty of arguments one could make both for and against government offering a bailout to newspapers.

And the arguments, at least in America, would probably fall on deaf ears, as the White House seems to have already made up its mind:

With the Boston Globe just the latest big-city newspaper teetering on the edge of shutdown, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs brushed aside a question about whether the federal government will consider stepping in to help save newspapers, as it has with so many other industries.

“I don’t know what, in all honesty, government can do about it,” Gibbs told reporters.

Well … what, in all honesty, government could do about it is the same damn thing government has done for every other failing industry — throw buckets of cash at the problem.

I acknowledge that, as CNN goes on to paraphrase Gibbs, there would certainly be hurdles and questions involved in bailing out an industry that (at least theoretically) lists “examination and criticism of government” as one of its top priorities.

However, I would imagine there are ways around that problem. In the grand scheme of things, withholding bailout money from a traditional industry because part of their job involves interacting with government and reporting about it to the people smacks of either pettiness … or resignation. Or, of course, pragmatic politics.

While President Obama’s superhero shine may have dimmed somewhat in the eyes of leftists as he has moved towards the centre since his inauguration, most of us would still have a tough time believing that he’d be unable to find some cash to keep newspapers afloat while still managing to allow them to report independently about his administration.

If it was a priority to keep newspapers afloat, believe me, they’d find a way.

But in brushing off the question, Gibbs goes for the quick shot, implying that there are issues of coverage and objectivity in play:

“You guys didn’t think $100 million meant a lot a few weeks ago,” Gibbs said. “But looking at some of the balance sheets, $100 million seems to mean a lot.” Ouch.

That’s nothing more than a glib way — and kind of funny — way to duck a real explanation. And I would speculate that the reason for the dodge is because, if the White House has considered a bailout for newspapers at all in the middle of all of this, it’s been flatly rejected because there’s no point in throwing good money after bad.

So long as network television news, CNN and their cable news buddies, mainstream magazines like Time and Newsweek and newsradio from all sides of the political spectrum are going strong … why would the White House step into save newspapers, really?

There are the altruistic motives, sure, about the fourth estate and all that … but really? Aside from journalists themselves and their ever-shrinking cadre of True Believers, who cares about that?

In the minds of many more people, tossing $100 million at the quickly fossilizing newspaper industry would be tantamount to propping up the failed status quo in order to keep the market from evolving into its next iteration — and that would be a fairly un-capitalist stance for a White House already hearing the ceaseless yap of retarded talk radio DJs with a special case of “Socialist!” Tourette’s.

Add to that the Republican-manufactured image of an election given to Obama by the mainstream media — we all remember how “in the tank” became part of the political lexicon for those six months, right? — and you’re just poking the Right with a stick a few short weeks after the saner elements of the party finally began to climb on board.

A government bailout for American newspapers can’t happen right now. Not only is it probably a waste of money, but the political optics are terrible and the industry as we know it is well past the point where a $100-million injection could really “save” anything.

Aside from (sigh) Arkansas, Americans did some pretty decent shit on prop votes last night.

“Tonight’s results represent a sea change,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, which backed the Massachusetts and Michigan ballot proposals. “Voters have spectacularly rejected eight years of the most intense government war on marijuana since the days of ‘Reefer Madness.’”

Some nice votes on abortion and euthanasia, too.

Pretty good job all around. High five, USA.

Now if you could just get over the whole petrified-of-gay-marriage thing …

There’s surely going to be a final act in this damned play, so let’s get on with it already.

I understand too much about the nasty rules of life’s overarching narrative to believe that the third presidential debate is over, Barack Obama has a large enough lead to coast home and that Senator John McCain — who has sadly managed to turn himself into the villian of this piece — will not empty his bag of tricks in a last-ditch play to find at least one thing that can stem or reverse the tide.

These are important times and the muse of history demands a fitting conclusion. This story doesn’t end with a slow run up to an unsurprising vote while the world just kicks it and waits for an inevitable verdict. Can’t happen like that. Won’t happen like that. Good guys don’t triumph that easily, and if they do they don’t end up being the good guys.

So what happens now? When does the other shoe drop? What kind of shoe is it? When will the Republican masses get their long-awaited October surprise?

As it stands, here’s what you will be looking at for the next two-plus weeks: A McCain campaign hunting desperately for a silver bullet will be throwing anything and everything at the wall in the flailing hope that something, anything will stick to Obama.

If you want to get a true sense of what’s out there that might actually be considered as ammunition in the home stretch, you have to delve into the depths of the Republican strongholds.

I felt brave on a cold Tuesday morning, so I went there, and these — according to those who are desperate to bring about the downfall of Barack Obama — are the issues that need to be raised before America votes, Obama wins and the rest of the world breathes an enormous sigh of relief:

TREMENDOUS ISSUE NO. 1: Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Apparently Mr. Hussein is not an American citizen. Even though his birth certificate has been posted on factcheck.org, the Republican masses would like to see the “real” birth certificate. Which is not this one. This one is a fake. Why? Because it’s on factcheck.org, a biased website. So …. the angle of attack? Obama is NOT visiting his ailing grandmother in Hawaii. He has gone back there to help fake his own birth certificate (again, apparently) so that he can produce yet another birth certificate which will quiet all the people (meaning these Republicans) who were not satisfied with the first faked birth certificate. By the way, they are intimating in advance that the next one will be fake, too. If you would like to delve further into this theory, please check it out.

Obligatory retarded post on freerepublic.com about this theory: “I question the timing too. Sick grandma? When did he ever care about her before? He’s going over there to get his newly-forged copy of his birth certificate — it was too dangerous to have it FED-EXED. He’s going to crease it up in a letterfold and bring it
back in a book he took with him on the plane.” — More fun like that one, right here.

TREMENDOUS ISSUE NO. 2: OMG! And you thought Rev. Jeremiah Wright was bad. Wait until you hear about this dude that Obama talked to and mentioned in his book authored a book about having sex with a thirteen-year-old girl. And get this — this book is totally autobiographical, too. Not fictional at all. This dude is a sick and twisted pervert, the kind we stomp into the ground and leave bloody on the curb of life. His association with Barack Obama serves only to illustrate exactly how un-American and pro-sex-with-13-year-olds Barack Obama really is. If Obama was any kind of man, he would step up right now and categorically deny that he enjoys making sweet love to pubescent girls. But he won’t do that so we are left to guess. Was Obama trained in pro-kid-sex viewpoints by this man whom he has spoken to in the past? Or did he reach his pro-kid-sex stance on his own, through years of kid-fucking experience? A website named Confederate Yankee has all the information you need.

Bonus fun quote about this theory: (The headline on Free Republic says it all: “OBAMA SEX PERV SCANDAL”. But quotes are not hard to find, either) “I got the distinct feeling from something I read recently, that his grandfather was a pervert, too. He introduced (Obama) to this dirtbag and apparently, they all sat around drinking together. Someone else pointed out something interesting; that Davis states he molested a 13-year-old girl named Ann. They speculated this could be (Obama’s) mother and that this loser fathered (Obama) — they do look alot more alike than BO Sr. Apparently, Davis also lived in Kansas for a while.”

You can’t teach this kind of creativity, folks. But I’m more partial to this succint reply: “So, if true, we could end up with a Pedophile in Chief.”

Nice. Very nice. More like that here.

TREMENDOUS ISSUE NO. 3: This one is not crazy just disingenuous, and it will undoubtedly be used at the first sign of stagnating poll numbers for Obama. If I were a McCain adviser, I would certainly suggest they use it as soon as McCain has a good day in the polls.

The narrative goes thusly: Why can’t Barack Obama close the deal? Why do his supporters balk when the finish line is in sight? He rolled to a huge lead over Clinton before almost letting her come back to catch him (things didn’t quite happen exactly like that, but it’s close enough to drive the story). He built up a big lead during the summer, only to let john McCain close the gap after the convention. Now he’s built a nearly-insurmountable advantage, and his supporters are backing away? What is it about Obama that makes voters get cold feet at the last minute? Is it his arrogance in assuming he has already won? Is it laziness on the part of his campaign? Or is it something else — something voters can’t put their finger on, but intuitively understand: Electing Obama as President would be a big step in the wrong direction. Voters know this in their hearts, even if they are bombarded with “facts” from the “media” telling them that Obama is “the One”.

This is the line of attack I am expecting. I think it would resonate with independents, who are hopeful but are also a little afraid. It would certainly fire up the base and it also manages to inject, without being too blatant about it, the “otherness” that the Republicans must hope scares voters away from Obama at the last minute.

That, or a they’ll pull out a busted terror cell that was planning to attack America on the night of the election if Barack Obama was elected. That fits much more with the action-thriller of danger and International intrigue that could swing voters towards McCain in a time of fear.

Those are the sort of things I am waiting for. And I know that something wicked this way comes. The spider-sense is tingling. Historic shit like this doesn’t just happen in a cakewalk. And if it does happen that way, it shouldn’t. What are we going to tell our grandchildren we did in the three weeks leading up to an historic occasion? “Oh, we sat around and watched the poll numbers stay steady. Obama held a few rallies, McCain said some stuff and then we voted.”

Where’s the thrill of a narrow victory for the Forces of Good in that? I want my damned epic narrative arc — not an overdone denouement masquerading as the climax of an epic tale. If I wanted that I’d just watch The Return of the King on DVD.

You can see it in their eyes.

It’s the best part about watching sports. Or watching politics. Sometimes — and it is rare enough that it should be treasured — a person who makes their living in the public eye goes to a place where they are simply beyond the competition. Other people do it, too — but these are the ones we get to witness and remember.

The guys who make their living by filling dead air during sports broadcasts will tell you “he’s taken his game to another level,” that “he’s really got his best stuff today,” or that “he’s really locked in.”

They overuse the phrases; partly because it’s their job to sell the spectacle, and partly because overusing cliches is what being a sports broadcaster is all about. But sometimes they mine a nugget of absolute truth — and the ‘locked in’ cliche is the one that comes closest to describing that moment.

It’s rare, but it’s not hard to recognize. First, the eyes are a giveaway — they’ll be staring down whatever’s in front of them. If there’s nothing there, they’ll be staring down air. Second, there’s no hesitation in their actions. They know what they’re going to do, and they are so certain it’s the right move that they honestly haven’t considered the possibility of it failing. Third, they almost seem to want someone to challenge them. They’re so certain they’ve got it that every situation is another chance to prove it.

When a baseball pitcher has it, you’ll see him throw one fastball after another into the strike zone, daring a batter to swing. You’ve seen it in the NFL, in Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, when their opponents are driving to take the lead in the fourth quarter and they’re on the sidelines, barely paying attention — they know they’ll get the ball back and they’re planning to score.

You’ve seen it on the ice, when Nicklas Lidstrom waltzes along the outside inch of the blueline, daring a defender to challenge him and offer an opening by reaching for the puck. When Tiger Woods sinks an incredible putt and then solemnly walks to the next hole without celebration, hand-slapping or chit-chat.

When you watch a basketball player who is locked in, you don’t notice it because he’s making his baskets. You notice it because there’s not a moment of hesitation once the ball is in his hands — at this point, he’s so completely in his element that his mind and body have reached a harmony that not too many people experience without the aid of psychotropic substances.

This is how Barack Obama is feeling these days. And I’m fairly certain he’s not high.

Bad. Ass.

Since Friday’s presidential debate, it seems from Obama’s public appearances like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders. It could be attributed to climbing polls numbers or an increasingly embarrassing campaign by his rival.

But I don’t think so. I think it’s because Obama reared back and threw his best heater at the debate, and he knows John McCain swung and missed.

That debate has been called a slight win for Obama, or a draw. But the polling numbers aren’t what this is about. What Obama takes away from that debate is the unshakable belief that John McCain can’t hit the fastball.

Obama was almost completely honest during that debate. He didn’t take the opportunity (as John McCain did) to misrepresent his opponent’s position; he didn’t lie, cheat or twist anybody’s words; he didn’t dumb down his platform or back down from statements that he knew McCain would use against him. In short, he was himself, and it seems to have worked.

And that seems to have given him back his fire. The man has been killing it. Not just with rhetoric (which was always there) but with purpose and decisiveness and humour. He’s loving this.

Below is the footage from a speech in Virginia yesterday. It’s 26 minutes long, but if you take the time to watch it, you’ll see exactly what I mean.

The man is locked in. He knows that the platform he’s offering is better than the other guy’s. He believes in his own message. He likes the people he’s talking to. You would have to come down with an ugly case of cynicism to not at least enjoy what you’re seeing in this speech.

Using sports cliches has become a cliche in itself on this damned blog. But when it comes to politics, the comparisons really are apt, especially in America.

Both rely on a vicious ebb and flow of momentum, the fervent support of large numbers of people, an epic sense of spectacle and bearing witness to history and ultimately the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat and the loser’s anthem of ‘wait ’till next year.’

Obama’s played ball. He knows how it feels to get hot from long-range; to take a few shots and watch gleefully as everything swishes. But by his own admission he’s not an incredible basketball player. He’s been ‘hot’ on the court but never ‘locked in’. As a politician however …

… he is absolutely locked in right now. The ability is always there, but right now the mind is perfectly aligned with his goals. He’s so calm and intense at the same time. It is, in all honesty, a spectacle worth seeing. There’s a kind of awesome inevitability in the way he is carrying himself right now — like Mariano Riviera jogging in from the bullpen to ‘Enter Sandman’ played at 11.

The goal is close enough now that he can taste it. All he has to do is keep hauling back and daring McCain to hit the heater.

(Here’s the video: Passionate, funny, uplifting, absolutely stinging criticism of the McCain/Republican ideology … just watch it. It’s quite possibly the best stump speech you will ever see. It’s a hell of a performance.)

“I am running for president because the dreams of the American people are too important to have EIGHT more years, FOUR more years, ONE more year of this NONSENSE! Enough is enough!”

You know what? If Barack Obama honestly believes this, then he’s finished. Done. Cooked. Hopeless. Expired.

And in some of his strongest language yet, Obama suggested that, in its new ad, the McCain-Palin ticket was simply trying to “make stuff up.”

Senator Obama, I know you have spoken time and again about listening to opinions from the global community. You’ve mentioned the need to allow the rest of the world to whisper in those overlarge, Will-Smith-as-Fresh-Prince-style ears that you have. You’ve stressed that the United States cannot exist in a vacuum and that our — speaking as a non-American citizen — views count, too.

So, on behalf of the rest of the world, I offer: Yes, you fucking idiot. Yes, they are.

There is reams of data from all walks of life to back this argument.

There are studies that place the American national IQ at 98, the lowest national average among the world’s developed countries.

There are surveys that find that only 20 – 25 per cent of American are “scientifically savvy and alert.” The rest of them are embarrassingly ignorant:

Dr. Miller’s data reveal some yawning gaps in basic knowledge. American adults in general do not understand what molecules are (other than that they are really small). Fewer than a third can identify DNA as a key to heredity. Only about 10 percent know what radiation is. One adult American in five thinks the Sun revolves around the Earth, an idea science had abandoned by the 17th century.

There are dozens more articles, studies and surveys exactly like these, and you can find them by typing “American stupidity” or “Dumb Americans” into Google. Doing that, Senator, will no doubt depress you. And it should.

But fear not. If you type the same thing into Youtube, you get all sorts of amusing clips:

Who could forget that shining example of how retarded the populace you are currently courting can be?

You have probably never heard of a man named Rick Mercer (or maybe you have, you sometimes seem like you might be into that kind of humour — you know, the kind tinged with ‘elitism’), but I urge you to consult his research before placing your faith in those mouthbreathers who will be punching ballots in two months.

Senator Obama, Americans can be good people and they can do good things, and I hope to God they elect you President.

But a solid percentage of them are so fucking dumb that they can’t find any country aside from America on a map and the depths of their ignorance continues to reveal itself on an almost-daily basis.

If you honestly believe the statement you made above … you are as stump fucking dumb as the rest of them.

Sincerely,

A Canadian Dude

Hey, McCain campaign. You guys wanna talk sexism?

I’m pretty sure that’s a discussion Hillary Clinton is itching to have with you. Her and a few other notable female politicians.

The conventions are over, and now this election is about to get gully. Barack Obama is going to keep himself above the flailing, let loose the Hilldogs of War and force-feed the GOP some of their own medicine.

I may be biased, but I’m also a fan of watching American politics as though it were a new type of sport; some sort of full-contact hybrid of chess, the NFL and Calvinball.

From that perspective — the Obama camp’s response to cries of ’sexism’ by the GOP could be something of a coup.

John McCain has tried to siphon away Hillary Clinton voters by running a woman as his VP, while at the same time choosing a hard-right, private-health-care, book-banning woman in an attempt to solidify his somewhat shaky standing with the Republican base.

Not only that, but his campaign has then turned around and played the sexism card in response to any criticism of this woman. Keep in mind, that’s the same card they mocked mercilessly when Clinton tried to play it in March.

I am sure there is some lingering bitterness between Clinton and Obama. They are human, after all, and it’s only natural.

I’m also pretty sure that Hillary Clinton is a feminist and a politician first. So I’m pretty sure she’s been getting royally pissed off over the last few days of the GOP convention. There’s also a slight chance that she has been watching this clip and debating which pantsuit would look better on her during the evisceration she is about to perform:

You see, judging by what I’ve noticed in the past three years or so, if you’re a female politician who is very new to the national stage, has repeatedly voiced loud opposition to a woman’s right to choose, has mocked the idea that the government should provide health care for everyone and then called sexism whenever someone tried to call you on it … you don’t really wanna fuck with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Whatever rancor may exist between Hillary and Barack, it’s nothing compared to challenging everything she has fought for as a legislator, and as a woman, over the past 20 years.

That’s the problem with playing the sexism or racism or even ageism cards — you take the risk that your opponent won’t just find an accomplished woman, black person or old dude who can tear you to shreds while saying, ‘Hey — I’m female/black/old, too, and these people are still retards.’

And the problem with having a very inexperienced and (in the opinion of many) unqualified woman play this card, is that you risk having women with far more clout behind their names blow you out of the water.

It’s not just Hillary itching to get after Sarah Palin. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius kicked things off yesterday:

“She mastered the words written by the Bush speechwriters and delivered them well. But what we didn’t hear was what people talk to me about every day,” Sebelius told reporters.

The real feminists also don’t like it when you pander to them. And it is difficult to charge Gloria Steinem with sexism and be taken seriously:

Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton’s candidacy stood for — and that Barack Obama’s still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, “Somebody stole my shoes, so I’ll amputate my legs.”

So what are you going to do? Barack Obama didn’t say any of this. He doesn’t have to. He just gets to keep making awesome speeches and rising above the fray.

Unless, of course, the competition is also dumb enough to make fun of community organizers, then he gets to join in on the fun:

“The question I have for them is: Why would that kind of work be ridiculous?
Who are they fighting for? What are they advocating for?”

Every time the GOP trots out condescending smears like “Ooooohh, he’s a community organizer …” I get all nervous for about 30 seconds. Then I remember that Barack Obama is not John Kerry and that he really does know how to brush that kind of dirt off his shoulder.

I don’t always enjoy speaking in Internet and video game lingo … but that, as the kids say, is pwnage.

… you can only hope to contain her.

This whole thing has now become a lolection.

I should quit the posts completely and devote my time to captioning pictures of Sarah Palin with “I can has veep nao?” and the like.

I could have spent the entire day at my computer, writing a new post every time I saw a Palin scandal, and I’d barely have time to keep up.

Remember when Hillary Clinton claimed the snipers were shooting at her? Aside from the gunfire, what’s the difference between saying that and claiming your refueling stopover was a trip to Ireland that counts as foreign policy experience?

From Politico today:

I wrote the other day that a Palin spokeswoman said trips to Germany, Kuwait and Ireland made up her foreign travel.

Two details worth clarifying:

The Ireland trip was a refueling stop on her trip to military installations in Germany and Kuwait, spokeswoman Maria Comella said.

Nice.

A couple of years ago, the overnight Montreal-Toronto bus that I was on stopped on a Reservation near Kingston, Ont. so that the driver could buy cheap smokes at 2 a.m.

I didn’t know had had experience in Native Affairs. That’s kind of cool.

Seriously?

As I type, in the last 36 hours we’ve found out that Sarah Palin’s daughter is pregnant with the child of a teen who admittedly doesn’t want kids; that Sarah believes the Iraq war is Godly; that she belonged (along with her husband) to an organization lobbying for Alaskan independence; that she ran a car wash into the ground in her younger days; that she has hired lawyers to protect her and her staff during a growing corruption probe; that she attempted to ban books from the library immediately after winning a mayoral election; that her own mother-in-law may not vote for her; that her staff tried to pass off a refueling stop as a “visit” to a country … and that she has a pastor just as crazy as Barack Obama’s.

Thirty. Six. Hours.

That’s why I’m writing this post. If Sarah Palin can get all that out there, I can at least update the blog twice.

I’m not going to be snarky, angry, disgusted, repulsed, horrified, sarcastic, wryly amused or even righteously indignant about the American election today.

It’s more effective (and so much fun!) to simply dig through massive amounts of news stories, blogs and political analysis in order to find a bunch of quotes that have gone public in the last few days and let readers wonder why the GOP ticket of John McCain/Sarah Palin has even a snowball’s chance in hell of winning in November. As any half-decent journalist knows, a good quote can speak for itself.

These quotes are all real, all sourced and not intentionally taken out of context:

• “This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.” — Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain
• “I think God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that … Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God. That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan.” — Sarah Palin, on the Iraq war
• “We need to think like Jesus thinks. We are in a time and a season of war, and we need to think like that. We need to develop that instinct. We need to develop as believers the instinct that we are at war, and that war is contending for your faith. … Jesus called us to die. You’re worried about getting hurt? He’s called us to die. Listen, you know we can’t even follow him unless you are willing to give up your life. … I believe that Jesus himself operated from that position of war mode. Everyone say “war mode.” Now you say, wait a minute Ed, he’s like the good shepherd, he’s loving all the time and he’s kind all the time. Oh yes he is — but I also believe that he had a part of his thoughts that knew that he was in a war.” — Sarah Palin’s pastor, Ed Kalnins, senior pastor of Wasilla Assembly of God since 1999.
• “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” — John Stein, former mayor of Wasilla.
• “Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance.” — Sarah Palin, when asked if she was offended by the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. (The words “under God” were added in 1954; the pledge was written in 1892. The founding fathers were all … ummm … dead by then.)
• “I realized months ago that Obama can get away with just about anything because all that too many Americans seem to care about are charisma and the term “change.” It doesn’t matter if Obama plagiarizes speeches, who his pastor and spiritual mentor was for 20 years, that he has the most liberal voting record in the Senate, that he refused to wear the American flag as a pin, that he didn’t place his hand over his heart during the national anthem, that his wife just recently has become proud of her country, or that he is sympathetic to Muslim terrorist groups, etc.” — Chuck Norris, discussing Barack Obama.
• “I don’t want kids.” — Levi Johnston, the poor boy who is being forced into fatherhood by his mom-in-law to be, on his since-deleted MySpace page.
• “I’m a fuckin’ redneck who likes to snowboard and ride dirt bikes. But I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some shit and just fuckin’ chillin’, I guess. Ya fuck with me I’ll kick ass.” — More from Levi. Hey, at least he likes hockey!
• “(We) vetted her through Google and clipping services. They didn’t send lawyers there or talk to people who knew her.” — A GOP official with ties to the McCain campaign, speaking of the thorough research behind his choice of VP candidate.

But the final and — in a stunning sign of the current state of political discourse in the United States — most coherent political argument of the day goes to … Lindsay Fucking Lohan:

• “The real problem comes from the fact that we are taking the focus off of getting to know Sarah Palin and her political views, and what she can do to make our country a less destructive place. It’s distracting from the real issues, the real everyday problems that this country experiences.
  I am concerned with the fact that Sarah Palin brought attention to her daughter’s pregnancy, rather than all world issues and what she believes she could possibly do to change them — if elected. I get Sarah Palin’s views against abortion, but I would much prefer to hear more about what she can do for our country rather than how her daughter is going to have a child no matter what.
  Maybe focus on delivering some words and policy with stronger impact like Joe Biden.” — Lindsay Lohan, writing about the Palin controversy on her (God help us all) political blog.

When a woman best known for her underwhelming acting ability, terrible pop music, public intoxication, rampant promiscuity and the red hair that frames the lips of her vagina is asking you to please discuss the issues … maybe that’s a sign.